Mitsis Georgios D, Iannetti Gian Domenico
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2010;2010:4834-7. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2010.5627441.
The recording of brain event-related potentials (ERPs) is a widely used technique to investigate the neural basis of sensory perception and cognitive processing in humans‥ However, when the temporal interval between two consecutive stimuli used to elicit ERPs is smaller than the latency of the main ERP peaks, i.e., when the stimuli are presented at a fast rate, overlaps between the ERPs elicited by successive stimuli may occur. These overlaps are usually dealt with by assuming that there is no nonlinear interaction between these responses, and thereby by performing algebraic waveform subtractions. Here we propose a straightforward approach to assess the presence of nonlinear interactions in a ERPs. This approach is a direct consequence of the concept of nonlinearity between two successive impulsive-like stimuli. By applying this approach to ERPs elicited by nociceptive cutaneous stimuli delivered at inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) ranging from 250 ms to 2000 ms, we provide evidence that there are no nonlinear interactions between nociceptive ERPs, even at the shortest ISIs.
记录大脑事件相关电位（ERP）是一种广泛应用的技术，用于研究人类感觉知觉和认知加工的神经基础。然而，当用于诱发ERP的两个连续刺激之间的时间间隔小于主要ERP波峰的潜伏期时，即当刺激以快速率呈现时，连续刺激诱发的ERP之间可能会出现重叠。通常通过假设这些反应之间不存在非线性相互作用，并由此进行代数波形减法来处理这些重叠。在这里，我们提出一种直接的方法来评估ERP中非线性相互作用的存在。这种方法是两个连续脉冲样刺激之间非线性概念的直接结果。通过将这种方法应用于在250毫秒至2000毫秒的刺激间隔（ISI）下传递的伤害性皮肤刺激诱发的ERP，我们提供了证据表明，即使在最短的ISI下，伤害性ERP之间也不存在非线性相互作用。
